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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never truly break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to